


Old Man

by Pomander



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Bonding, Family, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Introspection, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 09:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5159207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pomander/pseuds/Pomander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Undyne notices how old Asgore is for the first time after coming back from a long vacation. Set ten years after a Pacifist Ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Man

_Maybe three weeks is just too long for a vacation_ , thought Undyne as she pulled up slowly to Asgore’s house.  _It feels too weird to be back_. She glanced down at the pasenger seat where a small potted cactus was strapped in.  _Thank god for seatbelts, this little guy might not have survived the ride otherwise_. She looked back up at the massive garden that surrounded Asgore’s home, practically burying the house itself. 

While others may have described the garden as ‘flourishing’, she would just call it ‘overgrown’. In the last decade, Asgore had started collecting and caring for hundreds of varieties of plants, spreading his garden out slowly until it took up all the space in the yard, and even keeping some in his house. She didn’t know how he found the time or space to care for all of them, or why he kept accepting more.  But he always insisted there was plenty of room for everything to grow.   _Well_ , she thought.  _I hope he has room for this one_.

She unbuckled both herself and the plant and hopped out of the car He was probably putzing around outside somewhere, but she wasn’t sure he heard her pull up. She walked up and gave the front door a quick knock, but as expected there was no answer. So she walked around the side of the house, towards the back yard, where she found him kneeling in a bed of flowers. 

Except he wasn’t working as usual, he was just sitting there, staring straight ahead, his breathing slow and shallow. Undyne stopped in her tracks and watched him for a moment, too worried to speak up. He looked so sad, even in the bright sunlight. She cleared her throat and he startled and turned around quickly, but his face brightened instantly when he saw it was her.

“Undyne, welcome back,” he whispered, “please, come here.” She nervously walked over to him and sat down beside him. He smiled at her and pointed to the plants he had been staring at earlier, and she saw now why he had been so quiet. There were three small yellow butterflies fluttering around the flowers in front of them. He must not have wanted to scare them off. She watched for a few moments as they traveled from flower to flower, gathering nectar, spreading pollen, normal butterfly business. It was soothing. She smiled and looked over to Asgore, who continued to watch them with fascination until they fluttered away, and he turned his full attention to her. 

“Sorry about that,” he chuckled. “I watched them emerge from their cocoons earlier this week, and it was nice to see them still around the garden. Would you like some tea while we catch up?” 

“Sure,” said Undyne, “want any help?”

“I’m alright,” He said, “Just wait for me out here and I’ll bring it out to you.”

She watched him as he slowly rose up off his knees, brushed the dirt from his legs and hands, turned, and walked back towards his house. He looked so  _old_ , she thought, so  _tired_. Had he looked like that this whole time? Or had he really changed that much in the three weeks she’d been gone? She stood up and made her way over to Asgore’s backyard table and placed the cactus on it before sitting down. 

 _Well_ , she had to admit,  _he IS old_. He was already king of the monsters long before they were all banished underground. How many centuries was that ago? He had told her his exact age once, but she couldn’t quite remember what it was. He had to be the oldest monster she knew. She realized he might be the oldest monster alive, although he didn’t look like it.

Or at least, he didn’t look like it before today. He may not have aged at all since his son died all those years ago, but his mannerisms were starting to give him away. He was slowing down, especially in the decade since they’d all moved to the surface. Once things had been settled with the humans, he didn’t have to fight anymore. Undyne had teased him, telling him he was getting soft, but he had said that was fine.

She sat up and watched him as he came out of the house with a large mug in each hand, carrying them slowly over to the table. He set them down gently and took his seat across from her. He looked down at the cactus and smiled.

“Did you bring this back with you?” he asked.

Undyne nodded. “Yep, it’s my little souvenir for you. It’s called a ‘Prickly Pear’. I guess both the fruits and the cactus itself are edible, so it sounded like it was right up your alley.”

“Thank you,” he said, picking it up and turning it to look it over. “I can’t wait to see how it grows. How was your trip, by the way? Did you enjoy the desert?”

Undyne groaned and rested her chin in her hands. “Not really,” she admitted, “It was hot and dry, and there were all kinds of bugs, but Alphys loved it… and we went rafting basically every other day. So, I guess I had fun.”

He chuckled and set the plant down gently. “And how is Alphys?”

“Busy. I guess Mettaton contracted some sort of virus while we were away? So she’s spent the last couple of days trying to fix that, and catch up on her other work that she didn’t finish before we left. I think next time we take a vacation, we’re gonna keep it short. A week maybe? Two weeks, tops. We were gone so long that it feels weird to be back home, y'know??” Asgore sipped his tea and nodded silently in response. “How have you been? Have things been pretty quiet here?”

He set his cup down and thought for a moment. “Fairly quiet, I suppose. I found a buyer for a few of those pear saplings I’ve been growing, I went on a date last Thursday, and we had one doozy of a thunderstorm just two days ago. I thought for sure it was going to flood-”

Undyne smacked her palms down on the table, cutting him off. “You had a date? How did it go??” She sat up straight and stared at him, this was  _important news_. Asgore hadn’t been on a date with someone in at least a year.

He nervously scratched behind his head “It went well,” he said. “she was a very nice woman, a human, recently divorced. We just…” he paused for a moment, taking another sip of his tea and looking away. “We did not really hit it off. I don’t think we will see each other again.”

“Aw jeez, that sucks.” Undyne sighed, putting one hand back under her chin. She grabbed her mug and finally tried some of her tea. It was delicious, as always. “I mean, were you hoping it would work out?”

“I’m not sure,” Asgore admitted, still looking out at his garden. “It has been so long now that I’m used to being alone, I think.”

“Yeah, but… Aren’t you lonely, Asgore? Do you ever think of settling back down, maybe starting a family again? You’ve said before you miss being a dad…”

A sad expression crossed his face for just a moment, then he smiled and turned to face Undyne again. “I don’t miss it as much as I used to. Frisk stops by now and again to help me in the garden. I have you, too. I enjoy your company.”

Undyne frowned. “Well, yeah. I love coming over here. I guess it’s just weird to me how much you’ve changed these last ten years. How much you’ve mellowed out.”

“You have changed too, though.”

She took another swig of her tea.

“I mean that in a good way,” he added. “You were so rebellious and arrogant when I first met you, I was sure you would be trouble. But over time you grew to be focused, courageous, and strong. I’m very proud of you.”

Undyne shrugged and turned her attention to the cactus in front of her, playing with one of its spines. “That was mostly thanks to you,” she said quietly. She had to wonder why he was bringing this all up now.

“I’m glad you think so,” he said. “I know you did not get along well with your parents. So I tried to step in whenever possible. But you were stubborn, you could have chosen to stay the way you were. Instead you chose to change, to grow. I’m lucky I got to take part in that. I am happy I got a chance to watch you grow into the person you are today.”

She looked up to see him beaming at her, and her eye suddenly felt so dry it started to sting.

“I know I call you my friend, and you truly have been my best friend all these years that I have known you, but… You mean much more to me than that. I think of you as my family, Undyne. Is that alright?”

Now the tears really started to form. Undyne tried to blink them away, but they kept coming. She put one hand over her face, but there was no way Asgore couldn’t see her crying.

He stood up and quickly moved over to her. “I am sorry, are you okay??” He asked, reaching out to her.

Undyne smiled and looked up at him, letting the tears spill down her cheeks. “Thank you, you’ve been a really great dad.” She stood up and put her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug.

He wrapped his own arms around her. “I missed you so much while you were gone.” He told her. “I’m glad you got back safe.”

She pulled away and wiped the tears from her eye. “I missed you, too.”

After a few moments they sat back down. Their tea had gone cold, and Asgore offered to make some more. Undyne leaned back in her chair and looked around her as she waited for him to come back out. The garden around her was thriving, and she realized that Asgore really had a gift for helping things grow. Thinking back on how he had been there for her all these years, she was glad.

She turned to the cactus and nudged the pot with one finger, resting her head in her other hand. “You’re in good hands.” She told the plant. “You’re gonna be just fine.”


End file.
